Being In Hillwood
by SideshowJazz1
Summary: Read "Being The Oldest", "Being The Slave" or "Someone's Island" for background. Stephanie Simpson, the oldest Simpson child, is moving to Hillwood with the rest of her family and takes an interest in the girl next door, who's strangely obsessive, and the psychopath from Lisa's new class. It looks like she's in over her head...yet again! Cover art by Sideshow Cellophane 26.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I've been kicking around the idea of the Simpsons in the "Hey Arnold" world for ages, especially since Craig Bartlett and Matt Groening are brothers-in-law, as far as I remember. And I've been looking for a reason to use my OC, Stephanie Simpson, the oldest Simpson child, for ages. She's starred in her own stories before, but now she's coming to crossover territory. The Simpsons are moving to Hillwood, taking place a year after the show. Stephanie will explain.**

**OK, first of all, a big SORRY to the AXH fans, Arnold and Helga will most likely not play much of a role in this fic at all. They will be around a bit, but this fic is going to focus on a more minor character, and sorry to everyone who likes the canon pairing (you'll understand when he first appears), I love it too, but it's not going to be here.**

**Disclaimer: Craig Bartlett and Matt Groening own everything you recognize. I only own Stephanie.**

I knew that Hillwood was going to be better than boring Springfield. But, still, I wondered what the kids at middle school were going to be like? I was just about to start ninth grade and because Dad nearly blew up Springfield, Burns finally fired him and we all had to move.

I saw a bunch of kids on the way in, but they were in Lisa's grade. She was the nerdy little brainiac, who's skipping third grade and going into fourth this year. Bart was going into fifth. Anyway, these fourth-graders...one of them lived next door. I hadn't talked to her on that first day, when I saw her in her room, but my bedroom window was directly opposite hers (I shared with Lisa in Springfield, but here we got our own rooms). In the evening, I looked over and she had what looked like a heart shaped locket. She kissed that thing before she switched the light off. I don't know...she looked up at her window just after she'd kissed it and saw me looking, then she scowled and brandished her fists at me.

Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't explained enough, have I? The name's Stephanie Taylor Simpson and I was fourteen at the time – well, I am still. My parents were – are – Homer and Marge Simpson, and my siblings are Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson. Bart was almost eleven, Lisa had just turned nine and Maggie was two and a half and had finally stopped clinging to her pacifier all the time and started talking. They're all nuts, compared to me. As I said, Lisa's a nerd, and while she should've been starting third grade at the new school (which has kindergarten up to twelfth grade), she was skipping it and going into fourth. Bart was the exact opposite, and frankly, I was surprised he had enough marks to get to fifth grade this year, but he did it.

It's because of Dad's new job that we had to move. I didn't bother to find out what he was doing, but being fired from the nuclear power plant in Springfield was the reason. And our new house doesn't seem that bad, except for Little Miss Locket-Kissing-Fist-Threatening next door.

Bart talked to a couple of the kids, though, although he only met the fourth-graders. A bunch of them were playing baseball, and he tried to join in. Apparently the girl playing catcher was opposed to letting a new kid join in. He said he only really got to meet Arnold, some kid who has a head shaped like a football. He said one of the girls even called Arnold "Football Head".

"The weirdest girl lives next door." I told my siblings the next morning, before we went out to catch the school bus. "I saw her getting ready for bed through my window. Her hair was still up in pigtails and she never took off the giant pink bow she was wearing."

"Pink bow?" Bart asked. "That girl I saw yesterday, she had a huge pink bow in her hair. She lives next door?"

I shrugged. "Probably is her. Not many girls wear bows that are that size."

"She was yelling at everyone else and telling them what to do yesterday." Bart explained. "Seems like she runs things. Bad luck for you, huh, Lisa?" He smirked at our little sister. "You already have a girl running things in your grade."

"Shut up." Lisa snapped. Then she smiled, changing the subject a bit. "I'm looking forward to facing a new academic challenge this year. It'll be fun."

I groaned. "I'm surrounded by crazies. Fun, Lisa? Seriously? Do you need a slap in the face? School isn't meant to be fun. Maybe you can make a few friends this time. I'm sure they'll be a few geeks who don't mind accepting you. Bart, how come you even noticed what the girl was wearing? Do you have a crush on her or something?"

Bart glared defensively. "I don't like her."

"Oh, so you love her, rather than just liking her?"

"No way!"

I ignored that and pulled him into an intentionally smothering hug. "Awww, my little brother is finally growing up and finding love!"

Dad walked in at that moment. "Bart, you've got a girlfriend?" He said. "Listen, boy, I know exactly how to charm a girl-"

"I don't have a girlfriend!" Bart said, blushing scarlet.

Mom had been busy washing dishes, but she seemed to come back to life at that. "Stephanie, stop teasing him. You three need to go to the bus stop. There's a girl next door that takes the same bus. Her dad came over yesterday afternoon to welcome us and tell us about his beeper store...well, they're selling mobile phones more now, but they still call it a beeper store."

"I've seen the girl next door. Her bedroom's opposite mine." I said. "She's totally insane. She was kissing a locket last night and acting all dreamy, and the minute she saw me watching her, she had a _complete _mood swing and threatened me with her fists from the window."

"Stephanie, don't judge her." Mom said sternly. "My best friend in middle school kissed her poster of Paul McCartney every night. It's a perfectly normal thing to do."

"Not when you're nine years old!" I protested. "And what's with her mood swing, anyway? I get that she was probably embarrassed about getting caught, but she didn't need to take a figurative swing at me. Next thing, she's probably going to tell me that if I'm not careful, she'll introduce me to her fists, which actually have names. Anyway, Mom, what did you say her name was?"

"Oh...I'm not sure." Mom said. "There are two daughters, but they have very similar names. Their dad said one of them was away at college, but the other is in your grade, Lisa."

"Watch out, Lise." I teased. "I'm too tough for her to pick on, so I'll bet she'll start in on you."

As it happened, we did meet the girl. She said her name was Helga G. Pataki, not bothering to explain what the G stood for. She didn't say anything in front of the others about me watching her, but she pointedly gave me a good look at the fire in her blue eyes that said "_Spy on me again and I'll pound you."_

So I decided to answer out loud. "Helga, just because I saw you out the window last night doesn't mean I was spying on you. Maybe you should close the curtains next time you want to keep your actions secret."

In three seconds, Helga was right in my face, and was gripping the front of my black singlet with one hand and balling her other hand into a fist. "Listen, new girl," she hissed. "If you ever tell anyone what you saw, I swear I'll-"

I interrupted her, easily twisting out of her grip and pinning her hands to her sides. "You'll what, Hells? Fight me? Forget it, like you could even take me in a fight." I smiled sweetly at her. "You need to have some idea on how to fight before you decide to take on a teen. Oh," and I pointed to Bart, "And don't think about trying to take him on, either. He's stronger than me." I blushed pink underneath my makeup, but Bart grinned with pride. He just loved knowing that he could take me and win.

Then the bus came, and all of us got on, wondering what our new school would bring.

**So, that's the first chapter. A lot of exposition. The next chapter will jump a little, so we'll learn more.**


	2. Chapter 2

**OK, let's continue. Thanks for your review, Sideshow Cellophane 26 (and there's a few episodes on YouTube if you're interested – I especially recommend "Helga On The Couch" and the best ep to watch for a later plotline would be "Curly's Girl").**

_Ten days later..._

The ninth-graders were boring. None of them were interesting at all. I was missing my friends and forever emailing them. Tasha, Azure, Sunshine, Mel and Laura all sent emails about what was going on in Springfield, which actually made me feel homesick. Who would've thought I'd miss the place?

I mostly ended up hanging out with the oldest people who had personality – the sixth-graders. Maria was okay to hang out with, and I didn't have to always stay composed around her, since she already thought I was super-cool because I was older than her. Connie wasn't so great, because she was annoying, but Maria's other friends were OK, and they all looked up to me. So I usually went around with them out of classes. Most of the middle-schoolers realized that, but being dull, they didn't seem to care, so they didn't shun or befriend me.

Patty, who was also in the sixth grade but only a year younger than me, was someone I talked to. She didn't seem that bad, but she had a reputation for being tough and I heard stuff about how she'd put people in wheelchairs before. I wasn't sure why she'd been held back in the sixth grade, though. She seemed smart enough. But she didn't seem to have that many friends. I watched myself a bit, but she seemed pretty nice when she wasn't provoked. She wasn't like my friends at home, but she reminded me a little bit of Mel, my friend from the ghettos. She was tough and usually seemed serious, but on just hanging out, she could be a lot of fun. Patty was similar, but I usually talked to her out of school hours, all the same. Her reputation at school would ruin any reputation I had, and she never really was the same person she was in school as she was outside of school. So in school, I sometimes chatted to Maria and her friends, and after school (and occasionally at lunch) I talked to Patty.

I was jealous of Lisa. Her class was full of interesting weird people and mental cases. Bart mainly had a class full of delinquents, but there were more than delinquents in the fourth-grade class. Lisa gushed on the first night about how Mr Simmons was a caring, innovative, creative teacher and she felt appreciated. But she still didn't have any proper friends. I knew who she wanted to be friends with – a nerdy little Asian girl called Phoebe. I'd seen her a couple of times. But Phoebe happened to be Helga's best friend, and what I'd said to Helga had screwed up Lisa's chances of having any friends that followed Helga's rules of the classroom. Most of the fourth-graders were scared of her, so most did what she said. She did pick on Lisa a bit, but no one, not even Lisa herself, told her to back off, and I sure as heck wasn't going to ruin things by telling Helga off. That would just make her worse towards my sister.

Lisa did seem to change, though. Over the first weekend, she went shopping with some of the girls and came back with some fashionable clothes. Apparently one of the girls, a rich girl called Rhonda, had declared her red dress a "fashion disaster" and had practically forced Lisa to go shopping with her and her friends. That was probably because, for the moment, Lisa was going around with one of Rhonda's friends, a redhead called Lila who was so sweet, I was surprised she wasn't spilling sugar everywhere she went. She'd even invited Lila over a couple of times. I was sure Lisa found her as annoying as I did, but she was the only one that tried to be friendly from the start. But a day after getting her new wardrobe, Rhonda invited her to a sleepover. I was listening on the extension and it sounded like it was just an excuse for her to point out and correct absolutely everything that barricaded her and Lisa from being friends. Lila was also going to be there, and so was Nadine, a quiet blonde who was supposedly Rhonda's second-in-command and best friend.

Lisa often gushed to me about her classmates, making me more and more jealous. Rhonda was the school gossip, and so Lisa heard a lot of it second-hand from Lila. I didn't really care if Harold Berman was teased after he got beaten at arm-wrestling by a girl and then told everyone he didn't care, or that Helga played an epic April Fools' joke on Arnold by pretending to go blind and he got back at her by spinning her into the school pool during a tango dance with a lot of sexual tension. I didn't care what anyone was wearing, either, which seemed to be most of what Rhonda talked about. And I certainly didn't care whether Arnold's crush on Lila had ended after Gerald's little sister started following Arnold around and his eyes were opened to the problems in the nonexistent relationship.

Well, that's not true. I didn't care about most of the gossip, but the romantic stuff I wanted to hear. "So...do Rhonda, Nadine or Lila have any crushes?" I questioned, much too eagerly.

Luckily, Lisa didn't seem to notice. "I heard someone saying that Lila had a thing for Arnold's cousin. Rhonda told me about this origami marriage predictor that was faulty, and that she was secretly disappointed that it showed that Peapod Kid – he's the boy in the stripy shirt with the glasses – would marry Nadine, because the fault made it untrue, and she thought they made a cute couple. And...well, Rhonda would have you believe she doesn't like anyone, but there is this boy in our class who likes her."

"Oh?" I said.

"Yeah." Lisa frowned at the thought of him. "I didn't really notice him until Rhonda yelled at him for stalking her, but I've heard he can be a bit of a psychopath."

I folded my arms. "Yeah, that's nothing new." I scoffed. "Our next door neighbour has some serious personality disorder. I have never seen her even smile genuinely when she knows there's people around, yet when she's in her room, she's always talking to herself and being all dreamy and smiley. Someday I'm going to break into her room and find out why it has that effect on her."

"Helga's usually OK." Lisa assured me. "It's not just me she picks on, she does that to everyone. Although Arnold mostly gets the worst..." I had seen Arnold around school a couple of times. I could tell by the fact that his head actually was the shape of a football.

"So why does she pick on him?" I asked. "Does she have a crush on him or something?"

Lisa shrugged. "No one seems to know. Everyone says that she just hates him. I think Lila might know something, but she won't say, and I wouldn't be surprised if Phoebe knows, but I can't ask her because she's always with Helga. Anyway," she continued, "She's not a psychopath. I know what to expect from her."

"And from this kid?"

"So far, he never really says much unless he's trying to charm Rhonda." Lisa admitted. "He's pretty dramatic when he is, though. He's even a bit frightening in his intensity, and I've heard stories about what he's like when things don't go right for him."

"Is there anyone NORMAL in your whole class?" I exclaimed. "Helga's got some kind of personality conflict, Rhonda's a rich bitch-"

"Stephanie, don't be mean to her! She actually tried to help me."  
I ignored that. "Nadine and Phoebe are doormats for their friends, Lila's perfect, Rhonda's stalker is insane..."

"Stop it!" Lisa insisted. "Everyone's just got their own quirks. You have those, I have those, the whole planet has those. And if you haven't finished, Arnold is great at giving advice, Harold acts tough but is pretty much a coward who cries easily, and Sid is more superstitious than anyone I know."

I grinned. "I like crazy people. Bring a few of them over to our house sometime."

**So...what did you think? I decided to make Patty thirteen, although I think in one episode Helga says she's fourteen and in the sixth grade, because I can't imagine she's been held back more than two years. She seems too bright, but she's obviously a older than the average sixth grade age. Keep in mind she doesn't have that much screen time, so she might seem a bit OOC when she's hanging out with Stephanie. Now, please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, what happens next? Find out! And if you don't know what tsundere means, Google it. Thanks for reviewing, Sideshow Cellophane 26 and fuzzyslippers1005!**

Days continued to pass. And as they passed, I started to notice something happening to Bart. Back in Springfield, he'd had multiple sort-of girlfriends. He'd first had a crush on Laura, my friend and neighbour, and she'd admitted to me (and him) that if he was older than us, she'd go out with him. Bart's first "girlfriend" was Reverend Lovejoy's daughter Jessica, who was a budding criminal and siren, and they eventually broke up after she framed Bart for stealing from the church collection plate. There were other girls, too. He'd even had a strange connection with a tsundere girl from juvie. I knew the signs of Bart getting a crush. He'd look at the girl as if she was the only person in the room, he'd get depressed over her not noticing, and he'd talk about her all the time.

So when I noticed him looking out of the window at the Pataki's stoop, I assumed the obvious. But he immediately left when he saw Helga going up the stoop.

"Who are you looking for?" I asked. "By that reaction, it's not the Pink Personality Complex."

"Her?" Bart scoffed. "Sure, she's tough, but who ever would like her?"

I smiled. "Now Bart, every person has their own standards of-" I couldn't restrain my laughter. "Oh, I couldn't say that with a straight face. You're right, Bart, she's never going to get a date with her attitude and looks!" But then I got serious. "So who is it?"

"Who's what?"

"Don't play dumb, Bart Simpson. You have a crush on a girl. You're my brother, I know those signs. Who is she?" Then I had an idea. "Oh. Oh, I get it."

"What?" snapped Bart.

"You were looking out for Helga because you thought she might have someone with her. You have a crush on Phoebe, don't you?" I started laughing. "Oh, wow. You're wasting your time."

I'd gotten Lisa to tell me everything about the relationships in that class. She'd told me what she'd observed, and she'd noticed something very interesting about the inside of the door of Phoebe's locker.

"She has a crush on Gerald." I told Bart. That was one thing Lisa was sure of. "There's a picture of him in her locker."

Bart's face fell. "Are you sure?"

I shrugged smoothly. "Maybe. If you don't believe me, go next door and ask Helga about it. She's Phoebe's best friend, she should know."

"Friend?" Bart scoffed. "Have you seen the way she treats Phoebe? I always see the two of them in the cafeteria. Phoebe gets pushed around all the time. So Helga will say 'fetch me a chocolate milkshake' and Phoebe will say 'fetching', and Helga will just remind her to get a bendy straw."

I shrugged. "I don't know. Lisa told me they're always together. There's a reason why she's barely talked to Phoebe so far. Anyway, Helga should still know. Go ask her."

"Are you kidding? Ask _her_?" Bart said incredulously.

"Well, if you're too _scared _of a nine-year-old girl, I'll go ask her." I taunted.

"I'm not scared. I just don't want to get anywhere near that girl."

"Well, I think I'll just go ask her myself, then." I smirked. I had said before that I wanted to find out what was in Helga's room that made her stop scowling. Now, I was planning to find out.

I walked straight over to the Pataki house and knocked on the door. It was answered by who I assumed to be Helga's dad, a great huge guy with a gruff voice. "What?"

I looked at him, seeing where Helga got her ears and face, poor girl.

"Hi, Mr Pataki." I said brightly. "Is Helga home?" I knew she was, but what else could I say?

"Oh yeah, right." Helga's dad said before yelling up the stairs. "Olga, get down here!"

"It's 'Helga', Bob!" a familiar voice called back. "I'm coming!"

This was a surprise. Helga called her dad by his first name – 'Bob', while he couldn't even be bothered to remember hers. Even I didn't call my mom and dad by their first names. Only Bart ever called Dad "Homer", although Lisa hadn't been able to say "Daddy" as a baby and could only say "Homer", although she could say "Mommy", "David Hasselhoff", "Stephanie" (her second word), and of course, her first word, "Bart".

Anyway, back to this. Bob Pataki went back to the living room the minute Helga and I were face to face.

"What do you want, Goth Girly?" she demanded.

"I take that as a compliment, Pataki." I said pleasantly. "Don't get the idea I wanted to come here. Bart's just too much of a wimp to ask you. Now how about we talk in your room?"

"How about we don't talk at all?" Helga shot back.

"I can take you in a fight, Pataki." I scowled. "We're gonna talk, and we're gonna talk in your room. Relax, it's not like I'm going to go looking in your closet to see if you have any secrets."

I caught the flash of fear on Helga's face. Bingo! There was something in her closet. I'd have to make up some excuse sometime and find out what she was hiding.

"Get on with it." she scowled. "We can talk here. Just say whatever it was."

I sighed. "Fine. Bart has a crush on Phoebe. I know she has a crush on Gerald. I'm just asking because Bart wanted to be sure."

Helga sighed. "Is that all? Yeah, Phoebe likes Tall Hair Boy. But if your brother wants to ask her out, why doesn't he just do it? She's not seriously dating him or anything."

"OK, Hells." I said brightly. "That wasn't so hard, was it? Bye." And with that, I left the house.

I told Bart what she'd said. "So go ask Phoebe out next time you see her, why don't you?" Then I added "And I know that Helga is hiding something in her closet. I am completely serious when I say that I am going to search her room sometime when she's not around. Wanna come with whenever that is?"

I recognized the smile on Bart's face. It was his "troublemaker" smile. "Just try and stop me, Steph."

As it happens, we had the opportunity the very next day.

**This is just one part of the story. Maybe Helga and Arnold will be more prominent than I thought at first. I have another storyline in mind, but anyway, please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So now...oh, wait, no, I don't own the poem Stephanie reads. It was my personal favourite Helga poem, from "Helga's Parrot". And it's my favourite because I think it had the best rhythm. Thanks for reviewing, Sideshow Cellophane 26!**

Lisa had gone with the other fourth-graders to their baseball field, which, according to her, was called "Gerald Field". Helga was there, of course, so I figured it was time Bart and I made our move. As it turned out, it was easy to get in. Bob wasn't there, and the door was unlocked. Helga's mom was home (I noticed that was where Helga got her blonde hair from), but she was asleep on the bench. I noticed the blender and made a glugging motion to Bart, realizing why the mom wasn't awake at this point. We both laughed silently. Maybe that was why Helga was so mean – her dad couldn't even remember her name, and her mom drank. I felt a little sorry for her.

But that didn't mean I wasn't going to find out what was in her closet.

There was a plaque marked "Helga's Room", so I knew exactly where to go. Bart and I looked into the room that was directly opposite my bedroom window.

I closed the door quietly, and then went to the closet. At first I thought there was nothing, and I was very disappointed. Then Bart spotted something that I'd thought was the back of the closet.

"There's a curtain!" he drew it back and I gasped at the sight. There stood a little sculpture, and there were several small pink books scattered around.

"Isn't that Arnold?" Bart said, surveying the figure.

"This just gets weirder." I muttered. "Lisa says that everyone told her that Helga hates Arnold for no reason. I wonder, what are these pink books?" I picked one up and opened it to a random page. Almost immediately, the words jumped out at me.

_Arnold, my love, my sultry preteen_

_Why must I hold you only whilst I dream?_

_Will I be forever enslaved by your spell?_

_Why must I worship you, and never ever tell?_

_Arnold, you make my girlhood tremble, my senses all go wacky_

_Someday I'll tell the world my love, or my name's not Helga G. Pataki!_

I could only stare at the poem. Helga wrote poetry? Really? And not just any poetry – love poetry! The sculpture of Arnold was...I suddenly realized how the closet was set out. It was a shrine!

I started giggling.

"What? What?" Bart asked. "What's so funny?"

I gave him the book. "Read this." I chuckled. "I can't believe Helga wrote it, but her name's right there!"

Bart was soon laughing, too. "She...she _loves _Arnold? Oh, this is rich. She is totally obsessed!"

I grinned. "You know, she's got heaps of these books. She probably won't miss just one..." I took the book. "I am so showing this to Lisa. I don't feel right about telling anyone this information...but she can know, and do what she will with it."

Bart grinned back at me. "Yeah, but this information is way too juicy not to use. I'm keeping it stored. Might come in useful as blackmail sometime."

Lisa was shocked when we told her. "What?" she gasped. "Everyone thinks she hates Arnold, and she's always yelling at him, pranking him, calling him names...poor Arnold! He doesn't even know!"

"So..." I asked. "Are you going to tell him?"

Lisa shook her head. "I think I should tell Helga I know...but don't worry, I won't tell her how I know. But it's up to her to tell Arnold, right?"

I smiled. "Right. Doesn't mean I can't privately have a little fun, though. Listen to this:" I took out the little pink book and opened it to the poem I'd found, reading it out in a dreamy lovesick, breathless voice. Lisa's eyes went wide, obviously finding it hard to believe Helga could've written this stuff. She gasped when I got to the admittedly uncomfortable zone for nine-year-olds line "_you make my girlhood tremble"._ Even I was a bit shocked by that.

But to be absolutely truthful, Helga's obsessiveness didn't match up to Rhonda's problems. Not even close. I spent nearly a week mulling over Helga's feelings for Arnold, but then I met Rhonda's stalker.

It was during recess when I saw Rhonda in the halls. I hadn't ever spoken to her, but I'd seen Lila and Nadine going around with the pretty brunette, usually with Lisa tagging along. But this time, Rhonda was on her own, and she looked a lot less composed than usual. She tore past me, just as I heard another voice calling something. I knew I was about to meet the stalker, because I knew from what Lisa had told me that no one else could make Rhonda lose composure.

I was bored, and I wanted some amusement. So I blocked the hallway so the boy couldn't get through, and I took this chance to look at him. He had dark hair in a bowl cut, thick glasses that hid his eyes, and he wore a green and orange shirt with brown shorts. If not for the glasses, he would have looked normal, but not seeing his eyes was a little unnerving.

"Sorry, authorized people only." I said, smirking.

"Let me through!" the boy argued. "My beautiful princess, my true love, my other half is down there, and I must pursue her!"

"Take a walk, kid." I advised him. "Judging by how fast she was running, I'd say she didn't want you around."

"She just plays hard to get!" the boy protested. "She loves me really. She said she likes me, honest!"

"I never said that!" The voice came from Rhonda, who'd stopped for a moment after she'd noticed I'd blocked the hallway. "Leave me alone, you little freak!"

"I'll leave you alone..." the boy began, with a creepy smile spreading onto his face. "If you give me a lock of your hair."

"Never!" Rhonda shrieked, and ran away and out of sight.

The boy glared at me, with a slight scowl. "Let me through! I must go to her!"

"Nope." I grinned. "I wouldn't usually bother protecting that spoilt little princess...my little sister told me, she's obsessed with style, money and herself...but it's fun to annoy you."

"Hey, Curly, can you just leave R – Stephanie, what are you doing?" Lisa had just rounded the corner.

"Curly? That's his name?" I said, starting to laugh.

"Stephanie, don't annoy him." Lisa hissed. "I told you, I've heard stuff about him. He's dangerous. The last time someone annoyed him, he tried to get the kid expelled by framing him for pulling the fire alarm."

"Come on, Lise, I wasn't doing anything wrong." I said. "He doesn't seem so scary, anyway. It's not like he could actually hurt me." I turned back to Curly. "So, kid, what's your deal with Rhonda? She obviously doesn't like you as much as you like her. Have you planned to kidnap her or something?"

"Never!" Curly exclaimed. "I could not do something so cruel as taking my beautiful darling away from the other people who care for her, as much as I would like to. No, but I pursue her, knowing that one day, she will accept me."

I laughed. "Are you that deluded? Somehow I think that's not going to happen. We should hang out sometime, I like crazy people." I was being sarcastic, and it wasn't until I saw Lisa's eyes widen that I realized the mistake I'd made.

Curly grinned in a very creepy manner. "OK, then...Stephanie, right? Today, after school. My place or yours?"

"I didn't mean literally!" I began, but then I threw caution to the wind. Lisa was looking so terrified, I couldn't resist. "My place. It's next door to Helga Pataki. Come over whenever. I'll see you then."

And with that, I walked off. Lisa followed me, looking petrified. "Stephanie, why did you do that?" she said, looking agonized. "He's not as innocent as he looks! Sid told me one time he locked himself in the principal's office with 500 kickballs because Mr Simmons accidentally skipped him as ball monitor."

This didn't have Lisa's desired effect. I burst out laughing. "Seriously? Oh, I wish I'd seen that."

"And another time, he freed all the animals in the zoo." Lisa added.

"This gets better and better!" I exclaimed.

"And he once made all these guys think they were going to die by pretending to be a ghost and locking them in the graveyard because they wouldn't let him tell the story of that particular ghost." Lisa finished.

I stopped laughing then. I wouldn't have liked that, either. But I wasn't going to back down. "I'm glad I invited him over." I said defiantly. "Something tells me he'll be a lot of fun to have around."

**So Stephanie knows about Helga and is interested in Curly. Anyone in doubt about what can happen now?**


	5. Chapter 5

**We'll see what happens. Well, you will. Thanks for reviewing, Sideshow Cellophane 26.**

Lisa was tense on the whole way home. Bart noticed it, too. The minute we were out of sight of any other students, he asked "What's up, Lise?"

"Stephanie's only invited the fourth-grade psychopath over!" she said, shooting a glare at me.

"You've invited Pataki over?" Bart said – obviously Lisa had never mentioned Curly to him.

"Please, Bart, give me some credit." I laughed. "Pataki? Honestly? That's stupid. No, our sis is just scared of some kid with glasses. I sarcastically suggested that he hang out with me, and he took it seriously, so I said he could come over tonight, if he wanted. According to what I've heard, his name's Curly, like that Three Stooges guy, and he's a little weird."

Lisa shook her head at me. "You don't get it, Stephanie. You're not taking it seriously because you haven't seen it happen."

"I saw him chasing Rhonda." I said in defense. "Besides, since when did you see him locking himself in the principal's office, or chasing kids around, or freeing all the animals from the zoo? You only have the other kids' words to go by."

As it happened, Curly hadn't appeared by dinnertime, and watching TV seemed to calm Lisa down a bit. "He's probably not coming at all." she reassured herself. "He probably got sidetracked."

I was disappointed and relieved at the same time. As it happened, I did not expect to find my window wide open when I went up to my room at eight o'clock, planning to check my emails and see if Azure had replied to my last one. I'd left it a little bit open, but now it was open enough to fit someone small. Like a fourth-grader.

But just as I shut the window, that's when I sensed movement behind me. But before I could react, I heard a voice exclaim "Heeeere's Curly!" and a small form barrelled into me, now laughing hysterically.

I was knocked down, stomach first. "Get off me!" I choked out, managing to tip the kid to the side and stand up. Yep, it was Curly all right. "I thought you weren't coming." I admitted.

"You said 'come over whenever.'" Curly pointed out with a smirk.

"Yes." I admitted. "What I _didn't _say is 'sneak into my room through the window and then scare the crap out of me when I come in'. Seriously, why did you do that?"

"You should've been more specific, then." Curly simply replied. "So, you're Lisa's sister."

"Better known as Stephanie Simpson, but sure, Lisa's my sister." I said. "So, is Curly your real name?"

Curly's expression didn't change, but he sounded more serious as he said "Promise you won't laugh?"

I nodded.

"It's Thaddeus. That's my real name. Thaddeus 'Curly' Gammelthorpe."

I nodded again, trying not to giggle. "Oh..right...I...I can see why you don't want to be called that. But why Curly, of all names? Is it a Three Stooges reference, cause I can't see any other reason. Why _Curly_?"

"Why not?" Curly replied with a grin. He looked around for a moment before he spoke again. "By the way, nice room."

"Made all the better due to the fact that I don't have to share with Lisa." I smiled. "But brought down by the fact that my window is opposite the Pink Tsundere's room."(I'd started calling Helga that, since her poetry was all mushy and sweet while on the outside, I couldn't see a single kind emotion).

"Speaking of Lisa," I added, "I should tell you, she didn't want me to invite you over. She somehow got the idea that you were dangerous."

"Oh, many people think that." Curly said casually. "That's nothing new. She's probably heard about a few of my escapades around school."

"Well, I thought they sounded awesome!" I grinned. "Is it really true that one time you took all the kickballs and locked yourself in the principal's office?"

Curly nodded with a smile. "And it worked! I got what I wanted."

"And Lisa said one time you freed all the animals at the zoo?"

"Yep! That was fun, I'm planning on doing that again soon. One of my best plans!"

I grinned. The kid was just as nuts as Lisa had said, but I liked him all the more for it. He seemed like fun.

"How did you pull it off?" I asked in interest.

We talked quite a bit, for just under an hour, and as we did, I managed to get a read on Curly's character. He didn't seem like he was frightening, just a complete nutcase and unpredictable. He also enjoyed acting and even played Mercutio when the school performed _Romeo and Juliet _(which, I later discovered, had Arnold playing Romeo because no one else would play a part where they had to be kissed by a girl, and Helga playing Juliet – although I suspected that was because she got to kiss Arnold).

Curly was also very enthusiastic, very excitable, very abstract in logic, and pretty intelligent. Not booksmart like Lisa or wise, but bright and creative, like me. I liked him, and hoped we could be out-of-school friends. He wasn't a normal kid, at all.

"So," I said later on, "You already know Lisa. Wanna meet my other siblings and my Mom and Dad? Maggie's probably asleep by now, but Bart's usually up until nine thirty and Mom and Dad will, of course, be awake."

"Sure, why not?"

I stuck my head out of my room and yelled "Hey, Bart! Get in here!" I didn't usually let Bart into my room, but I figured it would be OK for once.

"No way!" Bart yelled back from the other end of the landing. "I'm not going to go in there so I can suffocate from your Black Star fumes!"

"Bart Simpson, you are coming into my room whether you like it or not, and besides, I don't wear Black Star perfume any more!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Dad yelled from the den.

"Bart, come in here before my friend and I drag you in." I hissed.

Bart's eyes lit up with realization. "So he turned up?"

"Are you gonna say hi or not?" I demanded. Bart groaned and came in. I turned around to go wait on my bed...

"AAAIII!"

Curly was standing way too close behind me with the most creepy smile yet. He started laughing as I stumbled a few inches away.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed.

"The look on your face!" Curly couldn't stop laughing. It was manic laughter, but it was infectious and soon I was laughing too. Bart was finally standing in the doorway.

"Wow, Lisa wasn't kidding." he muttered.

"I wouldn't have said 'come over' otherwise." I grinned. "I don't just invite random fourth-graders over. Bart, meet Curly. Don't ask about the name, it's a long story."

After that, I switched the TV off to get Dad to listen while I introduced him to Curly.

"What a little nerd." Dad muttered to me in a loud whisper. "He's like that Milhouse kid who Bart hung out with, glasses and everything."

It was true that Curly's glasses had the same frames as Milhouse Van Houten, Bart's best friend from Springfield who had a long-standing crush on Lisa.

I decided not to introduce Curly to Mom that night, since she wouldn't approve of me hanging out with a guy that late and I really didn't want to bother with her lecture. So once I'd introduced Curly to Dad, I decided it was time he left.

"Next time, knock and wait for someone to answer." I advised. "I want to live to the age to get my license."

"Of course, Stephanie, of course." Curly said. Suddenly, his face lit up. "So you still want to hang out with me?"

"'Course I do, Crazy." I teased. "How about Saturday? Oh, but don't call around until at least after midnight."

"Sure, Steph. I'll see you then. I've gotta go now, anyway, I've got to finish my plan for world domination."

I giggled and closed the door. I couldn't stop smiling that night. But then, when I went up to bed that night, I found a note on my bed:

_Sweet dreams, Steph._

**So, what do you think? It's an unlikely friendship, but I'm determined to make it work. Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**OK, so let's continue. And yes, this chapter is mainly an episode from the show. I'm not going to name it, but you can probably guess. Oh, and it's on YouTube. Don't forget, Maggie is two and a half here, so she would be speaking in full sentences.**

**Thanks for your review, Sideshow Cellophane 26 – well, creepy is Curly's specialty.**

As it happened, my pre-meditated thoughts on Curly were right. He was a lot of fun to be around. Also, he didn't really have a particular friend in the fourth grade, so he usually hung out with the geeks (one of which, I discovered, seemed to have an asthmatic problem and a crush on Helga). I felt a bit sorry for him, so I sometimes joined him on the bus. In school itself, I didn't really talk to him, of course. We didn't really cross paths, anyway. The fourth-graders had one classroom, and everyone above fifth grade had several in the second and third storey.

Lisa didn't like my new friendship with Curly. She continued insisting that he was dangerous, and there was a reason he didn't have any real friends. Bart sometimes told her to lay off. He didn't particularly like Curly, but he didn't dislike him and treated him more as a source of amusement than anything. Once I introduced Maggie, though, she had gone all shy and whispered "Steph, I'm scared."

Curly proved surprisingly charismatic around Mom and Dad. Well, Dad didn't seem to care, but Mom approved greatly of my friendship with him, and even tried to encourage Lisa. I just sat back and smiled, knowing that Mom had no clue to what Curly was really capable of. She was less inclined to believe the stories Lisa had heard second-hand (especially the one about the principal's office and the kickballs), and I wasn't about to tell her that even Curly had confirmed to me that they were true.

Anyway, I should probably explain what happened about a month after we'd moved here. One Monday morning, we were on the bus and I was going to sit next to Curly as usual, but he held up a hand. "Sorry, Steph. I'm saving this seat."

I took the seat behind instead, asking "For who?"

"For Rhonda."

I snickered. "Yeah right, like she'd sit next to you if there was any room." Much as I liked Curly, I still thought it was ridiculous that he actually continued to pursue Rhonda, thinking he had a chance with her.

"Wait and see." Curly grinned at me.

He immediately waved when Rhonda got on the bus. "Over here, sweet Rhonda! I saved a seat for you!" Everyone immediately turned their attention to Rhonda as she actually walked over and sat down next to him. I was shocked, not expecting her to actually do that. What had happened between them?

Curly put an arm around her shoulders and said in his most dramatic voice "I've missed you so, my love! Tell me you're my girlfriend!"

"I'm your girlfriend." Rhonda whispered, so quietly only I could hear it – and barely, come to that.

"Sing it out, honey, so all can hear!" Curly told her.

"I'm your girlfriend." Rhonda repeated more loudly.

"That's right, folks!" Curly called out to everyone. "Rhonda's my girlfriend!"

I could see Lisa staring and whispering to Lila. Arnold was staring, too, as were Helga and Phoebe. Rhonda didn't look very much at ease at all. I could tell from the start that there was something strange going on. The only way it could make sense was if Curly had some kind of power over Rhonda that he was using to force her to be his girlfriend.

I begged updates for the relationship off Lisa. She, along with the rest of the class, didn't seem to have seen anything not quite right about it, and told me about the heart-framed picture of Curly staring into the camera on Rhonda's desk and all the little things. She didn't need to tell me about the T-shirt Rhonda was wearing that had "Curly's Girl" written on it, since she'd worn it every day since he gave it to her.

At least, until the end of the week. I had purposely sat near Curly that day, wanting to see if I could deduce what was going on.

"So Curly, how's Miss Rhonda?" asked one of the boys. He was the tallest, with a Southern accent, but Lisa hadn't mentioned his name to me yet.

"She's marvellous, stupendous, the tops!" Curly said with his usual dramatics. "It's been the happiest week of my life!"

"That's great, Curly. " Arnold said. I'd never actually heard him speak before, and I was surprised that, for all his boyish vocal chords, he sounded more like a mini-adult in tone. I wasn't sure what it was, but Arnold just sounded more...mature.

At that moment, Rhonda entered the cafeteria, not wearing the T-shirt for once, but I could see she was holding it. She looked happier than she had for most of that week. Curly turned and said "Hello, my love." She waved her fingers.

"I've saved you half of my sandwich. Wanna sit down?" Curly offered to her. "I'll feed it to you."

"Oh, I don't think that'll be necessary, lover boy," Rhonda said in sweet tones as she led him away from the table, saying something I couldn't hear.

I just about caught Curly's next words. "Oh, come on, Rhonda! You know you've grown to adore me."

But at the next moment, Rhonda's words echoed across the room. "Curly, you're a low-down, despicable creep. It's over between us. I never want to speak to you again. Now crawl back under the rock you came out of, you slug." With that, she handed the T-shirt and the photo Lisa told me about to Curly, and walked out without a second glance.

Lisa was also staring from her table. Even Bart and a few other fifth-graders were looking over. Arnold put his hand on Curly's shoulder. "You OK, Curly?"

I didn't give it a second thought, and I ran after Rhonda, pulling her back. I didn't go back to the cafeteria, but just outside the doors. "I can't believe you, Rhonda! What the hell was that?" I demanded.  
"What?" Rhonda said coldly.

"That!" I exclaimed. "You dumping Curly. I could honestly care less about fourth-grade love affairs, but you didn't need to be such a bitch about it, and besides, what had he done?"

Rhonda laughed humourlessly. "What has he done? I'd tell you if I didn't think you'd tell the whole school."

"Oh, I won't." I assured her. "I don't care about you, but Curly's my friend and in case you don't recall, I blocked him from you a couple weeks ago. Not to mention, I'm more than a little interested, since you've been letting my little sister hang out with you and your friends."

Rhonda looked up at me. "Lisa's your sister? Wow, I pity her. But fine, if you can keep a secret, I'll tell you-"

"I can. Now spill it, sister."

Rhonda sighed. "I was never Curly's girlfriend. I was just pretending because he helped me out of a problem and then used blackmail pictures. He had to remind me of them to get me to wear that T-shirt."

I stared. "He WHAT? Blackmailed you?" Maybe Lisa was right about Curly, I reflected. Maybe there was something dangerous.

But then I thought about it. He hadn't really hurt Rhonda or pushed her that far. Lisa reported that they hadn't even kissed or anything. They just went around together. OK, so I had once or twice seen Rhonda with her fingertips in Curly's back pocket, but that was the furthest anything had gotten.

And it still didn't..."Well, Rhonda, that may be so, but did you have to break up with him in front of the whole cafeteria? This isn't going to get you much sympathy, you know. Curly was about to cry after you said that."

"Good." Rhonda said with satisfaction. "Anyway, I don't need sympathy. I'm Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd, and this can't possibly do a thing to me. I'm just going to move on from this completely."

That's what she thought. Over the weekend, I did ask Curly if he wanted to hang out, but he wouldn't. As I'd promised, I didn't tell anyone what Rhonda had told me, not even Lisa. And I wasn't going to tell Curly that Rhonda had told me what he did. He was still my friend, and I still thought Rhonda had been wrong in the way she dumped him. He hadn't even done anything to her, really.

**I decided I'd have to split the episode into two parts. Second part coming soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, here's the next part. Enjoy! Thanks for reviewing, detectivezelda!**

The other kids saw the heartbreak and turned against Rhonda,too. On Monday, Curly was at the back of the bus, holding the T-shirt and breathing in the scent of it occasionally. I still sat next to him, saying what I thought of Rhonda. "You're better off without her. She's just a shallow princess who thinks we should all worship her."

I heard Rhonda's voice a few seats down at that moment. "Is this seat taken?" She was talking to the tall Southern-accented boy.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to find some other seat. I don't sit with no heartbreaking harpies."

"Oh, please." Rhonda said. "Now we're supposed to feel sorry for _Curly?_"

"Yes, Rhonda, it happens on occasion!" I called down. "See what I mean? You dumped him in front of the whole cafeteria! It's karma."

And the next day, Curly and Rhonda were back together for a short time. I would've turned to Lisa for all the updates, but as a matter of fact, I didn't need them. At recess, Rhonda suddenly ran into the girls' bathrooms where I happened to be, and without checking that there wasn't anyone in the cubicles, started talking loudly. "Why, why, why does it have to be me? Why couldn't someone else have borrowed their mother's mink jacket and be in this disgusting situation? I mean, could he be any grosser? But then again, if I don't go through with this, everyone will hate me because I broke the little freak's heart. Time to buck up, Rhonda. After all, aside from that one highly nauseating kiss, this really isn't going so badly. Perhaps, by the end of the day, you might even be back on top. All you gotta do is stick to the plan, then find a way to dump the little troll."

I spoke up. "Stop it, Rhonda. What happened this time? I assume he didn't blackmail you again." I came out of the cubicle to wash my hands, and I soon realized that Rhonda had been rinsing her mouth out, since she was now drying her face.

Rhonda narrowed her eyes at me. "Can't you tell if you were eavesdropping on me?"

"You weren't exactly being subtle about it." I pointed out. "You're only back together with Curly because dumping him hurt your social status, right? So obviously he thought it was real, hence that kiss you were talking about. Oh, and," I added, "So this was something to do with you borrowing a mink jacket?"

"It's none of your business." Rhonda said in a superior tone. "If you want to help me, ask Curly to dump me."

"I don't _want _to help you." I snapped back, brimming with sarcasm as I turned the tap off and started drying my hands. "Hello, wake up? You're Rhonda Wellington-Lloyd, you don't need nor want help from a lowlife like me. Isn't that what you said before? Besides, I'm not your friend, I'm Curly's. If I was going to suggest he dump you, it's because you're the one bringing him down and making him pine after you, not him making you miserable."

I finally finished drying and walked out, just as I saw a familiar boy turning, about to leave, probably because he hadn't wanted anyone to see him eavesdropping.

"It's just me!" I called. Curly turned and stopped, and I noticed for the first time that he was wearing a deep blue T-shirt that had "Rhonda's Hunk" printed on it. No wonder he'd taken her so seriously, she was doing the kind of stuff he had done to her. He'd obviously been listening through the door, and heard everything Rhonda said. That meant he'd also heard everything I'd said.

"Let's go somewhere else, shall we?" I said, walking down to where I knew there was a hallway without lockers. I assumed that most people wouldn't go down there. Curly followed me wordlessly. It actually scared me a little. He was always so exuberant that being silent was actually more frightening than when he was chuckling manically or trying to creep me out.

I sighed. "Curly, she's not worth any of this." I sighed. "You have to face up to that. You can't keep following her around like a little lost puppy. For one thing, you're better than that."

"You're right." Curly muttered. "She deserves to be free. And I deserve someone who likes me. I'll dump her in the cafeteria, so everyone can blame me. She doesn't need to go through that again, and it'll blow over anyway." Suddenly, his eyes were fixed on me for a moment. Well, I couldn't tell, but I thought they were, judging by the position of his face. "Stephanie, there was something I needed to ask. I could hear everything you said. What do you know about me and Rhonda?"

If I had been able to see his eyes, I swear, they probably would have been blazing.

I groaned. "I wasn't planning on telling anyone, but I made Rhonda tell me why she'd been so brutal when she dumped you last week. So yes, I know what you made her do, and no, I don't really care because you didn't hurt her or anything."

"I should've known she'd have to tell someone." Curly muttered. "I didn't tell her to keep it a secret...but if you don't care what happened..."

I sighed. "OK, stop it. Just stop acting all depressed. That isn't you. Just go dump Rhonda at lunch and then you can get over her in your own way."

Finally, Curly seemed to have stopped acting all depressed. He looked at me again, and then gave me a surprise hug.

"OK..." I said. "What was that for?"

"Because I wanted to." he said matter-of-factly. Then the bell rang, and we had to go back to class.

I had the satisfaction of seeing Rhonda's face that afternoon when Curly dumped her, giving her a speech about how he thought she was a useless girlfriend, then walking out, throwing the T-shirt of hers over his shoulder. The other fourth-graders were whispering together.

"He's sure got a heart of stone."

"Poor Rhonda."

"I can't imagine what she could've done to deserve that."

Rhonda herself looked shocked and almost disappointed.

I was a little disappointed when I saw Curly chasing Rhonda down the street later in the day, past our house. But I looked out and heard what he was yelling. "Come on, just one lock of your hair, just for sentimental reasons! So I can remember the first time I fell in love!"

"No way, that's just REALLY creepy!" Rhonda called back over her shoulder. "Leave me ALONE and STOP CHASING ME!"

"I'll leave you alone afterwards! Come on, please."

I watched a bit, being amused, but then I called out, "Hey, princess, if you really want him to leave you alone, just cut a lock off, go on! You're going to leave her alone for good, right?" I directed the last comment at Curly.

"Yes, I am." Curly said sincerely. "I'm not going to chase you any more, Rhonda. I just want a reminder of my first love, the first time my world lit up..."

"So you mean it?" Rhonda said, eyes wide. "You're not going to continue hitting on me?"

"Of course not. I had my chance last week, and I'm not sure why it didn't work out, but I've concluded you're just not the girl for me. I just want a reminder."

The glimmer of a smile appeared on Rhonda's face. I went back into my house, smiling. At least Curly could stop chasing Rhonda. That would be a lot better for both of them.

**That's what she thinks. You'll see what happens. Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Now, shall we go on? Thank you SO much for reviewing, detectivezelda and Sideshow Cellophane 26 (I assume) Oh, and I agree. Average exists, normal doesn't. Curly isn't either of those.**

Lisa reported that Curly had seemed to have completely forgotten that he had ever been obsessed with Rhonda and was now treating her like anyone else.

"He got over her very quickly." she remarked.

I shook my head. "He started to accept it after she dumped him, I think. One quick flash of hope when they started dating again, then he overheard her whining about being stuck in the situation, and it was after that when he dumped her, so he had more time to get over it than you think. Plus, he's still nine years old, right?"

Lisa nodded. "Sure. But on the other hand, I've been studying Helga's behaviour patterns ever since you found out her secret. It's pretty clear that she's not going to get over Arnold any time soon. Judging by that poetry book of hers, she's had that secret for a long time, yet she refuses to tell it. I have actually asked Lila if she knew anything, because I could just tell she knew more than she let on. She admitted that Helga's been in love with Arnold since at least the time of the school play. They were doing _Romeo and Juliet _and Arnold was Romeo. There were four understudies for Juliet and Helga was the last one. She somehow convinced Rhonda, Sheena and Phoebe to drop out the minute they got to be the official Juliet, then Lila only dropped out when Helga admitted that she wanted to be Juliet because she wanted to kiss Arnold. And it's obvious Arnold is used to her behaviour. Usually he ignores it when she's shooting spitballs at him, but he occasionally looks over at her and she always just says 'what' like she thinks he doesn't know it's her."

"She's just plain nutso." I remarked.

"Who are you to talk?" Lisa challenged teasingly. "Remind me again why you've been hanging out with Curly."

"Cause he's a lot of fun." I answered. I was coming to see Curly as sort of a younger brother/best friend combination. I'd told my friends at home about him, and that day, I got a reply since I'd told them about what happened to Rhonda.

The only reply was from Tasha, my very best friend:

_Hey Steph. Sorry, I didn't understand most of that...unless you actually mean that after dumping her, you saw Curly chasing Rhonda down the street because he wanted a lock of her hair. Azure said if a guy asked her for something like that, she'd punch his lights out. But Sunshine actually thinks that someone asking for a lock of hair from a girl to remember her as his first love is actually sweet!_

_So can you get a picture of some of these people? I really want to be able to see what they're like, especially your neighbour. Yeah, you sent that poetry, but is she really as mean as you say? I can't imagine any girl with a gigantic bow looking threatening. And just how thick are Curly's glasses? Get me a pic of Lisa's friends too, I want to see what Rhonda looks like and if Lila looks as sweet as you say she is. And what are the other girls you hang out with like? Can you get a picture of them, too?_

I managed to get hold of a year-old Yearbook to get the pictures, which I scanned into the computer. Well, I only needed Facebook for a few of the sixth-graders I hung out with, but the younger kids all had to be done by yearbook. Lila had been a new girl this year, but I persuaded Lisa to get a photo of her, since there was a specific question about her. Tasha emailed back:

_Wow! I can't believe Helga writes poetry. She looks SO mean, like she's about to punch the photographer. And I showed the girls the picture of Curly, and Laura said to tell you to watch out. He does look seriously weird. As for Lila...has that girl got plastic surgery or something? It is impossible for a girl to look that sweet naturally. Come to think of it, I don't believe her hair's natural, either, it's too vivid._

_Rhonda looks like a snob. I can't imagine her and Curly together. Did they look really weird when they were dating? And how in the HECK did she get to be friends with Lisa? Let me guess, she dressed like a hippie just like last summer? Oh wait, you said Rhonda insisted on taking her shopping after Lila made friends with Lisa, right? And as for that Nadine girl, are those braids, or spider legs?_

_So those girls from Facebook are the ones you hang out with, huh? What does Maria do to her hair to make it so curly? And THAT'S what Patty looks like? No wonder she has a reputation, that girl looks like she could murder someone with just her fists._

_And so that kid with the spiky hair and the weird head Is Arnold, I assume. I suppose he's pretty cute for a kid, but what exactly does Helga see in him to write stuff like 'you make my girlhood tremble'? As for Phoebe – yep, that's pretty much how I imagined her._

I continued to hang out with the sixth-graders at school, and mostly Curly outside of school. A few times, he came in through my window in spite of me telling him not to. A couple of times, he came through Lisa's window. The first time, she was downstairs, but the second time, she was in there and screamed so loudly that I had to get her to shut up before Mom came up. She was still completely fooled by Curly's act around her.

Lisa had said that she was going to let Helga know that she knew her secret, but it had been three weeks since breaking into her room and she still hadn't done it.

"Why the HELL haven't you done it?" I asked one afternoon after school. "Are you intending to tell her at all?"

"It just never seems like the right time." Lisa protested. "I can't ever get to talk to her alone. Either Phoebe's with her, or Brainy's standing there."

"Brainy?"  
"Another kid in our class." Lisa explained. "I don't think I've ever heard him talk. He has heavy asthma."

"Oh, that kid." I remembered the boy. He was one of the geeks. "So why does he hang around her?"

Lisa shrugged. "She punches him in the face when she realizes he's there. Actually, he's the only person I've ever seen her use physical violence on. She keeps threatening to, but the most she does to anyone else is shove them out of her way or just say something mean."

"What about Arnold?" I asked.

"Mostly throwing stuff at him and calling him names."

"Why don't you just go next door and tell her now?" I suggested, kindly adding "I've been meaning to tell her, so I'll come with you if you're too scared to face her alone."

Lisa scowled. "I'm not scared of her, I just...haven't had the time to tell her. But if you want to tell her yourself, than fine, we can both go."

My sister hadn't seen what Helga's home life was like, and she seemed shocked at it. Mrs Pataki was passed out on the kitchen counter again, and Mr Pataki was still at work. It was Helga who answered the door.

She scowled at us. "What do _you _want?" she demanded harshly.

Well, I could be harsh too. "We know your secret crush and we thought you should know." I said, holding up the book I'd taken from her closet. "We weren't going to tell anyone, but I wanted to know, how the HELL do you, a nine-year-old girl, even know what 'girlhood' means and actually know how it feels when it trembles?"

Helga's expression changed from shock to fury in a snap. "You broke into my room?" she exclaimed in horror. "You-" she looked from me to Lisa, who looked scared. Helga couldn't take me in a fight, but Lisa was another story, and all three of us knew that if Helga decided to use those fists of hers, Lisa would be in a cast for the next month.

"Don't you dare touch my sister!" I said fiercely. "She didn't break into your room, I did. And we don't need any empty threats about what you'll do if we tell, because we're not going to tell. But seriously, Hells? Poetry, shrines? Isn't that just a teeny bit weird?"

"So what?" Helga challenged. "I'm allowed to do what I want in my spare time. You're the girl who's been hanging around Curly, I don't think you have the right to tell me I'm crazy when your new best friend is the fourth-grade psychopath."

I sighed. "Face it, Hells, you're so obsessive it's creepy. Get a will to live, girl! Oh, and next time you're writing stuff about him, you might want to use a code word, should anyone sneak into your room or something..."

Helga shot a glare at me, and muttered something under her breath.

"I'd like to hear what you're saying." I said pleasantly.

"Ice cream." Helga muttered. "The codeword. Phoebe knows it, too."

I smiled brightly. "Thank you." I said. "So from now on, if you want anyone to help you with 'ice cream' problems, I'm sure you can ask Lisa if you want. Oh, and while you're at it, you might want to give her a chance to hang out with your braniac best friend."

Lisa flushed. "Stephanie!" she hissed.

"What?" I said. "You wanted to be friends with Phoebe, didn't you?"

Helga scowled. "Fine, fine, whatever. Now can you two get lost?" She shut the door on us.

**OK, so that's OK for Stephanie, but there's still some problems looming...**

**Hey, guess what they are, then name your virtual prize!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Now, what are those problems I mentioned last chapter? Thanks for reviewing, Sideshow Cellophane 26 (ding ding ding, we have a winner!) and detectivezelda (that's a partially correct answer, so a virtual talking llama is on its way)! If there was a reference there, I did write a fanfic on that movie.**

Now that Helga knew that we knew her secret, she had actually started to leave Lisa alone most of the time, although I think she was more scared of me telling her secret than Lisa. One day when Lila came over, Bart and I decided to spy on the two girls. We had a new tree-house that had a branch right next to Lisa's window, which was open at the time. We heard the girls discussing the boys in their class, but they both tactfully didn't talk about Arnold, although Lila did mention "Arnold's cousin, Arnie...he's ever so interesting and likeable. I've only seen him the one time he stayed over here, and I liked him a lot, but he broke up with me. He's the only guy that I've ever liked that much before. I don't know if I'll ever like-like someone again." We could only see Lisa's face, but we could hear how wistful Lila sounded.

Lisa was looking thoughtful, but she said "Lila, don't give up. You're always holding the attention of most of the boys. Chances are at least one of them_ likes_ you-likes you."

Bart started laughing. "Yeah, at least one, always. She kept breaking Arnold's heart." he explained to me. "Kept trying to be friends with him, then had to remind him that she only liked him as a friend. I got that geeky girl from Lisa's class to tell me about Arnold's love life – Sheena, I think her name is. Well, I wanted to know about Helga, but she didn't say anything about her."

Lila was saying something else. "I don't know, though. None of them are that oh-so-special someone I'm looking for. I like them all, but I don't like-like any of them. On that note," she added, "I think you should tell your sister."

I was all ears for this.

"Tell her what?" Lisa asked. There was no answer for a moment (presumably Lila's facial expression was enough), then Lisa said "No way! She'll probably do it just to annoy me, and I don't want her to get hurt!"

"He'll tell her at some point, anyway." Lila said. "Don't you think you should tell her so she knows what she's gotten herself into?"

"Tell me what?" I whispered to Bart. "And who's 'he'?"

"Beats me."

Lisa was talking again. "I told her not to get involved with him right at the start. She won't listen to me. But do you think anything could really happen?" she sounded anxious.

Lila turned so I could see her profile. She looked thoughtful. "Well, I doubt that it'll be too serious. After all, it seems like she can take care of herself, and they've been hanging out together, haven't they?"

I was pretty sure that I had got it now. The only guy friend I had that I frequently hung out with (that Lila could possibly know about) was Curly. Besides, Lisa had said she told me not to get involved.

I couldn't keep quiet any longer, and I climbed the bough up to Lisa's window. "So, what were you talking about?" I demanded. "What does Lila think you should tell me, Lisa?"

Lisa blushed, looking at the ground. Lila smiled sweetly and said "Oh, Stephanie. Hello. It's just...someone in our class likes you-likes you, and we thought you needed to know."

I had read between the lines, and groaned out loud. "Oh no, please don't let this be a repeat of the Rhonda situation."

Lisa's head jerked up. "What? Who said anything about Rhonda?"

I rolled my eyes. "I was listening that whole time, Lisa. There's only one guy in this whole city that I've been hanging out with, and it's the same one that you're convinced is dangerous. What you're saying is that Curly has a crush on me. Is that right?"

Both girls nodded solemnly.

I laughed, suddenly, realizing how absurd that sounded. I couldn't comprehend it as something real. "You can't be serious, guys! He's just a friend, and besides, if he had a crush on me, wouldn't he have already started stalking me?"

Lila spoke up. "Well...Stephanie...it's how it started last time. He didn't immediately start stalking Rhonda. He just hung around her a bit. He was a bit more talkative than usual, a bit more energetic. The day he freed the animals from the zoo was around that time. It was only when there was a flash flood and our class was trapped when he started hitting on Rhonda, asking her for a kiss and that kind of thing."

I shook my head. "Not buying it, Lila. In fact, I'm not going to believe it until someone asks him while I'm spying, and he confirms it."

Lisa sighed. "Fine, Stephanie. If that's what it takes to convince you that he's going to be trouble, then I'll ask."

The next Monday, I waited around the corner to hear Lisa ask Curly the question. "You've been spending a lot of time with my sister, and I wanted to know...do you like her-like her?"

Curly's response was almost expected. "Why, Lisa, of course I don't merely like her-like her! My feelings for her go much deeper. The fire of my passion for her make the way I felt about Rhonda look like the fire of a newly lit match, compared to the fiery embers of the sun, which is what she is in my life."

This was not good for me. The thing was, Curly was a lot of fun. He was fine as a mate, but the fact that he actually had an intense crush on me was unbelievable. For one thing, he was just too crazy for me to deal with in that type of relationship. Plus he was nine years old, far too young for me anyway. I'm not getting near that one.

But apart from that, was Lila right? Was it true that Curly would start stalking me the way he'd been stalking Rhonda? If so, I would need some information from the rich girl herself.

I found Rhonda talking to Nadine in the playground, and pulled her to the girls' bathrooms, adding to Nadine "Gotta talk, she'll be back later."

I stood with my back to the door, so Rhonda wasn't going to get out. She was glaring at me, possibly outdoing even Helga with the fire in her eyes.

"Easy, easy." I said. "I just need some information off you. I've got it from reliable sources that I am possibly going to be stalked by Curly, and I just wanted to ask you a few questions over what to expect."

Rhonda sighed dramatically, but she looked amused at the fact that I was going to go through what she suffered. "Fine." she said, launching into a helpful explanation. "Well, if you're serious about this, he is going to try to kiss you. Several times over. Plus, there was one week where he wouldn't leave my hair alone. Asking for a lock of it only came later. Oh, and the creepy comments might sound weird, but they're not a big deal. And I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you not to end up indebted to him – don't forget what happened to me."

I scoffed at that. "Please, Rhonda. You got indebted because you borrowed your mom's jacket or something, right? I wouldn't borrow my mom's clothes in a million years."

Rhonda scowled. "It was a genuine mink coat. I only got into that situation because Park knocked into me while I had a candy apple in my hand and it stained the jacket."

"Let me guess..." I said. "You needed it cleaned by the next morning, so since his family owns a dry-cleaners', Curly offered to get the stain out...and I know the rest. Well, thanks for that piece of advice, princess, but honestly, I'm not stupid enough to do something like that, and even if I did, I'd rather take angering someone over pretending to be his girlfriend."

Inwardly, I was a little scared. Would Curly really start stalking me?

**Will he, Stephanie? That's my question too. Well, review and we shall see.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Let's see what happens. And no, I do not own the past events mentioned – Arnold's party is from "Cool Party" and the embarrassing events are from "Phoebe's Little Problem". Thank you for reviewing, detectivezelda and Sideshow Cellophane 26 (Stephanie says she'll need all the luck she can get).**

A week passed, and soon, my information was confirmed – Curly really did have a crush on me. I had been acting the way I normally had around Curly. We'd hung out a few times after school, sat together on the school bus...but it was hard not to notice that Curly was sometimes watching me intently for elongated periods of time. It wasn't easy to ignore the way his whole face lit up when I smiled at him. And it most certainly was impossible not to notice his personality going from energetic to completely hyper when I was around.

I didn't know how to react to this. I wondered if I should bring it up, or wait until he did. Which would be worse? I didn't want to lead Curly on, but I didn't want to completely shoot him down. Besides, he was no fun when he was acting all heartbroken. But I didn't want him to start stalking me, either. Sure, Rhonda had overreacted, but that didn't mean being stalked, even due to romantic interests, wasn't r unnecessarily creepy and weird.

I kept quiet about it, but I occasionally asked Lisa about how Curly was acting when I wasn't around, just in case.

After that one week, Lisa informed me "He's more talkative than usual. Whenever most of us in the class are talking, he's with us. Lila told me that this is exactly how it happened. He took more of an interest in everyone in the class. In this early stage, he's likely to pull some kind of crazy stunt if he's provoked, but he hasn't done anything as of yet."

In the second week, it happened. It was a warm Tuesday night. I was innocently reading my new email from Sunshine (_Aw, Steph, a kid has a crush on you? That's so cute! But really, that kid with the glasses looks disturbing, although I think Laura's taking the way he looks too seriously...) _when I heard the telltale sound just below my window.

When I looked just below, I could see Curly was up in the usual tree. He mostly climbed the tree outside Lisa's room, then jumped to the pipes to climb the last few inches to my window. He looked especially crazy today, with wisps of dark hair escaping its usual neatly combed style.

I opened the window wide for him. "What did you do?" I asked outright.

"Nothing." Curly climbed through the window and jumped down.

I waited, arms folded.

"Okay, okay, maybe I let the animals from the petting zoo out, but come on, for me, that's pretty tame." Curly said in defence. "Last time I was at the zoo, I let out all the animals I could find and got one of the giraffes to carry me down Vine Street."

I giggled. "Isn't that where Arnold lives? Lisa mentioned that he lives in a boarding house on Vine St. Did he see you?"

Curly shrugged. "The last time I saw him that night was when he came back from Rhonda's so-called 'cool' party. Everyone except him was on Rhonda's 'geek' list and we were all pretty mad at her. Harold wanted to crash her party, but I guess they didn't. Last I heard they all held a different party at Arnold's, but I didn't hear anything about it. Word was that everyone at Rhonda's party, even Rhonda herself, went to that party."

I grinned. "Awesome. So...can you explain why you're here?"

"Just waiting until the staff at the zoo cool down and stop looking for me. I lost them a few blocks ago, but they might still be looking for me. I figured I needed a crash pad for the night, as long as I call my parents and tell them I'm with someone else."

I smiled. "Well, as long as Bart is okay with letting you share his room, Mom will probably let you. You've totally made her think you're a great influence and a perfect kid."

"Am I ever imperfect?" Curly teased. We both burst out laughing.

Sure enough, things worked out just as I predicted, and things went normally. It was only after school, once we'd been dropped off at our stop and Helga had gone into her house that Lisa whispered to me "There's something you should know about last night. I was getting up for a glass of water when I heard a creak. Curly was at your door, and when I got back from the kitchen, he was standing in the doorway of your room, just staring at you. Luckily, he didn't see me."

I shivered in spite of myself. OK, now things were getting a little weird. A kid having a crush on me? Fine! Said kid being a little unstable and a friend of mine? Great! The kid having tendencies to stalk the girl he likes and blackmailed his last crush into pretending to be his girlfriend for some time? That I have come to terms with. But getting up at night to watch me sleeping like some _Twilight Saga _copycat? That is where I draw the line.

"You should confront him." Lisa suggested. "Maybe he'll tone it down a little bit if you ask him."

"I am NOT asking him about it on the bus in front of all the students." I said. "I'll become the joke of the school. Yes, I heard about what happened last time a student embarrassed herself in front of the whole school." (In fact, Harold had wet himself in front of all the students just as he was teasing Phoebe about an embarrassing event she was trying to face up to, and the teasing he got was only just dying down when we came). "And no way am I asking him one-on-one."

"Well, you're going to have Bart and I with you next time he comes over." Lisa said firmly. "You ask him while we're there."

"Hey!" Bart protested. "Who said I was going to be there? The psycho is your classmate, Lisa. He's _your _friend, Steph, anyway. Shouldn't you know how to handle him?"

I folded my arms. "There's a word that probably hasn't come into your limited vocabulary, Bart. It's _unpredictable_, which is an adjective that means no one is able to guess what the subject will do next. Curly is the most unpredictable person I've ever met."

"I _know _what unpredictable means." Bart muttered. "I try to be it." The last part wasn't meant to be heard, I could tell, but I caught it anyway.

I decided to take matters into my own hands, and I asked Mom the minute I got in. "Hey, Mom? Can I invite Curly over on Friday night?"

"Of course, sweetie." Mom said. "I'm so glad you two are friends, he seems a very good influence."

"Enough with the names, Mom." I muttered. I hated it when she treated me like I was still seven years old. Fourteen-year-olds don't like being called 'sweetie'. Bart hated being treated like a little kid as much as I did, but Lisa humoured Mom. "But thanks."

"Stephanie, did you have to do that?" Lisa complained. She pulled me out of the kitchen, explaining "Did you have to tell Mom you're asking him over? I don't want to hear her gushing over him, and this means he'll be over during dinner and after, as well. You know I hate it!"

"Stop being a wimp." I snapped. "If you can't take one evening with one of your classmates in the house, why don't you just go next door and ask Helga if you can stay over?"

That was low, and I knew it. Lisa was still scared of Curly, but although Helga had been leaving her alone as of late, she wasn't going to give her a chance to resume the bullying.

Lisa gave me a defiant look. "I said I'd stand with you when you ask him, and I will."

"And you wouldn't have the guts to talk to Helga on your own, let's not forget." I goaded. "There is a way to get past that, you know. Just imagine what she's like writing all that poetry. I've seen her in her room, acting all dreamy, kissing that locket that I'd bet on my life has Arnold's photo in it – and really, if you think of her in that way, she doesn't come off as threatening, no matter what she does."

"I'm not scared of her." Lisa insisted. "I don't like her, and she doesn't like me." She sighed. "I'd like to talk to Phoebe, though. I've seen her looking depressed when Helga's telling her what to do, and if I acknowledge her, she'll smile. I think she knows I want to be friends with her, but she's one hundred percent loyal to Helga. Anyway, point is, I'm not scared of Helga, and I'm not scared of Curly. I'm staying with you when you talk to him on Friday."

**So, what will Curly do when Stephanie asks him outright? Please review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Now, shall we see what goes on? Thanks for reviewing, Sideshow Cellophane 26.**

For once, Curly didn't come over after going home, but instead came home with the three of us. The situation felt a bit awkward, especially as Helga got off at our stop and although she didn't talk and usually ran ahead, she was hanging back this time, casting curious looks at us.

I'd had enough after about ten seconds. "Hey, Hells, take a picture, it'll last longer!" I called.

Helga scowled, and walked faster, passing us. As she passed me, I heard her say quietly "You are going to explain this."

"Not likely." I muttered back. "If you can catch me at home tomorrow, maybe. It's so simple, maybe you should work it out yourself."

Helga shot a glare at me, her monobrow becoming especially noticeable as her eyes narrowed. Then we finally passed her house and she went in.

The minute we'd all said hi to the adults, Lisa started following Curly and I as we went to my room. I turned to her. "Honestly, Lisa, get a life and stop tagging along!"

Lisa glared. "Stephanie, I told you I was going to be there when you-"

"I'll call you when I do that, OK?" I snapped. "If you're just going to be bored while you're waiting, go watch TV or call up Lila or something. Meanwhile, leave us alone."

I closed the bedroom door behind us while Lisa was still narrowing her eyes at me.

"What's she talking about?" Curly questioned, looking interested.

"I'll tell you later." I answered. "She wanted me to ask you about something and apparently, she has to be there. I promised I'd ask, so I will later."

I glanced out the window, and noticed that Helga was in her room. However, she disappeared from view when her closet door opened, and by the time it had closed, I knew she was in there, probably talking to her shrine or writing some more poetry.

During dinner, Lisa was making signals with her eyes at me the whole time, her eyes flickering over to Curly and back to me the whole time. I eventually just nodded, and made my own signals to Bart that he was coming with us.

Finally, all four of us trooped upstairs into my room. Lisa took a place on my desk chair, Bart leant against the closet on the floor, Curly took a place on the windowsill, and I curled up on my bed.

"OK, business." I said. "Number one; Curly, on Tuesday night, did you peek in on me when I was asleep?"

Curly simply grinned and nodded, as if it wasn't a weird thing to confess to.

I shook my head. "OK, that's just weird. If you EVER stay over again, don't do it. That's only acceptable in cheap romance horror thriller novels about undead creatures who have nothing better to do because they find it impossible to sleep at all."

"As you wish." Curly smiled again.

Bart's interest was piqued. "Hey, what does she look like asleep? I've tried to peek in, but she always wakes up. Does she stop glaring at everyone when her eyes are closed? Does she talk? Does she dr-"

"Bart Simpson, if you're going to try and find out how I look asleep, try to look at me without waking me up!" I snapped. "On second thought, don't. At least some people can peek without disturbing me."

"Moving on!" Lisa called out. "Stephanie, get to the main point."

"Fine, fine." I said. "Curly, someone said that you like me-like me ever so much, to use her cringe-worthy way of speaking. My question is, do you see me as anything more than a friend?"

I literally felt the energy levels in Curly skyrocket. "Whoever told you, they were not completely correct, but they certainly had some power to deduce my feelings for you!" he said dramatically. "I completely adore you. You are the sun in my dismal world, the centre of my universe, the reason I continue to live. I have settled for being your friend for these last few weeks since I was finished with Rhonda, but now that you know how I feel..." He had stood up and was now walking towards me.

I scooted backwards, up against my pillows. "Um, Curly, just so you know, you're freaking me out right now." I said warily. Bart was looking torn between amusement at my discomfort and anxiety at Curly's admittedly worrying expression. Lisa had paled.

"Come on, Stephanie. Don't you like me too, just a little bit?"

"Only as a friend." I said, trying to sound firm. "I mean, like, reality check. You're a kid, and I'm a teenager. I like hanging out with you, but like I said, you're just a kid."

I should have remembered. Curly never really listened to anyone, and only listened to what he wanted to hear. Lisa had told me once that nearly every time she heard Arnold giving people advice on social problems (which was often – most people went to him when they had problems), it was to talk to their problem person. Well, not that I'd go to that kid for advice anyway, but when the person you have only hears what they want to hear, it's not exactly going to work, is it?

"Come on, you know you do like me deep down!" he insisted.

"Are you really that insane?" I tried to laugh. "No, seriously, you've declared the same feelings for Rhonda and only weeks later, you start chasing me."

"My feelings for Rhonda were shallow." Curly said seriously. "I thought I loved her, but I only liked her-liked her. I learned that after I overheard how she really felt. She was beautiful, but there was nothing else below the surface. But I know you, Stephanie. You're smart and funny and everything I like in a girl...and you're really pretty, too. I feel so much more for you than I ever did for her. I want to be with you and only you forever."

"Get real!" I insisted. "Listen to me, kid, you're only nine. I'm fourteen. I couldn't seriously date a little kid. Besides, I don't mind being friends, but you're insane, and I couldn't date someone crazy."

"I'm crazy for you." he said in an intense tone. "I love you, my adorable angel, keeper of my soul. Now, how about you come give me some sugar from those lovely lips, hmm?"

Before I could react, he was up on my bed, way too close for comfort. Two seconds later, he had my wrists held against the headboard and his lips were on mine.

It seemed like the most crazy time to think what I was thinking at that moment, but I had to say that Rhonda had no reason to rinse her mouth out back when he kissed her. It was not "nauseating", as she had said. But I refused to let myself think in that way, because it was still wrong, and if things got any further, I'd get the blame, just because I was older. I started trying to push Curly away from me, because I couldn't think properly with that pressure on my lips.

Bart caught my eye, and for once, I think he sensed how serious it was. He helped pull the kid off me. "Get your lips off my sister's, I'm not going to watch her suffocate. Besides that, it's gross."

Lisa had completely frozen.

I sighed dramatically, not taking my eyes off Curly. Who knew what he'd do next?

"Right." I said. "First of all, Curly, you have two choices. Continue to be my friend and accept rejection...or stay out of my life."

"But my dove, I cannot ignore my heart's design!" Curly exclaimed. "I cannot just merely be a friend to you, when I could be so much more..."

I saw the ghost of a smirk cross Lisa's face. She knew I'd have to end my friendship now. I gave her a glare, and said "Fine." I shoved Curly out of my bedroom, down the stairs and right out the door. "You are no longer welcome in this house, unless you accept that I'm never going to be yours. You're much too young for me, you'll get me in trouble, and I wouldn't date you, even if you were fourteen. Be my friend, or be nothing. Goodbye." I shut the door. I hadn't wanted to be so harsh, but there wasn't much else I could do. I consoled myself by reminding myself that I hadn't been as mean as Rhonda had the day she broke up with him.

Still, I felt sad that I'd lost one of my closest friends in this city. I hoped Curly would get a reality check and want to be just friends with me, but until then, I'd have to try and avoid him around school.

**That won't be easy for Stephanie, but she'll try. Please review!**


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